Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

“Do you remember the Burden that changed your voice?”

“Ah, right, there was something like that.”

It was the Burden where my voice echoed as if I were speaking underwater, something no one else had noticed and only Dersia, being an elf, had picked up on.

Naturally, it caused no hindrance to daily life whatsoever, and since no one else noticed, it never gave me away. I had completely forgotten such a thing even existed.

But upon hearing that, Sharmia widened her eyes in surprise.

“…Huh?”

“What is it?”

“Now that you mention it, I think…his voice does sound a little strange.”

“Huh?” “It’s, um, slightly hoarse compared to before? It wasn’t obvious enough for me to notice.”

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t remember?”

“…That was just a moment ago.”

If what she said while playing innocent was true, then the Burden had progressed enough for a human to hear it.

But it wasn’t water pressure or ocean currents; all it amounted to was a slight echo in my voice. Was that really so serious?

I looked at Dersia with that sentiment, and she tapped her ear lightly before letting out a sigh.

“I possess hearing that allows me to distinguish that difference far more clearly. Before you began your infiltration mission, and after. Clearly enough to tell the two apart. And now, you’ve sunk so deep that even someone with ordinary hearing could notice the difference if they concentrated.”

“I’m not sure I follow. Would that be a problem?”

“Jern.”

Dersia spoke in a somewhat stern tone.

“That is less of a Burden and more of a harbinger.”

“A harbinger…?”

“Yes. Looked at lightly, it’s merely a change in your voice. Compared to the far more terrible Burdens you’ve been experiencing, it would seem like nothing. However, it is uniquely the one Burden that we, who are not inside the Deep Sea, can perceive from you.”

Unless I actively pressed down on Dersia with the Deep Sea’s world, she would have no way of knowing that I had Fallen.

But the echo in my voice was easy to catch. And indeed, she said it sounded strange.

“The Princess simply described it as an echo in your voice, but to me, it sounds different.”

“How does it sound?”

“…Distant.”

“Huh?”

“If I were to close my eyes and guess your position, your voice sounds so far away that I would mistake you for being dozens of steps behind where you actually stand…”

Dersia trailed off, rubbing her chin before shaking her head.

“No. That’s the wrong way to put it. If I had to be precise, ‘deep’ would be a more fitting description.”

Only then did I begin to grasp what she was getting at.

“May I go take a look?”

“Yes.”

I took a light, deep breath, then used Current Sense to scan the Deep Sea Creatures around me.

New faces appeared. As always, just when I thought I’d seen it all, some bizarre new specimen would show up, making it impossible to ever stop compiling the encyclopedia.

But that didn’t mean their numbers were growing. They always drifted around in similar numbers, in similar groups, chattering among themselves in whatever strange language they used.

What appeared this time was a creature resembling an anglerfish that fouled the sea with green slime. It was quite unusual, but instead of recording it in the encyclopedia, I focused my Current Sense.

Upward.

“…Mmm.”

My head began to ache slightly, but I spread it upward with everything I had.

Just as I neared the very limit of my Current Sense, things began to register.

Eels twisting their bodies as they swam, jellyfish drifting along the currents, and a few sharks that looked like snakes, among others.

…Every single one of them had been recorded in the encyclopedia.

Unlike the area around me, filled with nothing but Deep Sea Creatures I couldn’t make sense of.

“How is it?”

Returning to reality, Dersia asked with an anxious expression.

“…I saw new Deep Sea Creatures.”

“And above?”

“I saw ones I recognized.”

As Dersia shook her head and let out an even deeper sigh, Sharmia, who had been tilting her head beside us, asked a question.

“Um…so, does this mean Jern’s condition is bad? I’m having trouble understanding.”

“The Deep Sea Creatures I normally saw were all far above me.”

“I get that part. But couldn’t they have just gone up for something like feeding?”

“No. These things don’t really engage in survival activities. They just swim around their area and search for something. They don’t particularly go upward.”

“But you said you could see them above…”

“Yes.”

The fact that they hadn’t moved meant only one thing, obviously.

“I’m the one who went down.”

“…You went down?”

“It was already clear that his Burden of the Deep Sea had been worsening. As it does for all Fallen. Jern was no different.”

Dersia explained to the bewildered-looking Sharmia.

“However, I had never considered the manner in which the Burden worsens. But as his remark just now shows, it was remarkably simple.”

“Ah…”

“With time, Jern is falling into an ever deeper part of the Deep Sea. Falling, in the literal sense of the word.”

It was simple.

Because he was sinking, more Burdens arose.

“But if he’s been falling all along, isn’t this no different from before? You’ve only just realized it, right?”

“This time is different. As I said, the traits of my race allow me to perceive even the faintest differences.”

Dersia crushed the Princess’s counterargument without a shred of hesitation.

“There is a stark difference from before. Namely, that even at this very moment, Jern’s voice is growing gradually deeper to my ears.”

“What did you just say?”

“All this time, Jern has been living at what might as well be the bottomless floor of the Deep Sea. He has been sinking continuously, but at least not so fast that one could tell the difference between yesterday and today. But since the infiltration, meaning from just moments ago, he is now sinking steadily even in this idle state, as if weights were tied to his feet…”

Dersia stared at me, stroked her chin in thought, then continued.

“Changes that used to take a week to show have been felt in just the last ten minutes. This is less of an acceleration and closer to a free fall.”

“Then…”

“Let us circle back to the beginning. I don’t know.”

Dersia pinched the bridge of her nose and let out words tinged with helplessness.

“I have never once imagined your condition deteriorating to this degree. Given the power of Water Barrier and the Deep Sea Manipulation abilities you have developed… I was certain he would hold out until we found an answer. But at this rate, even if there were a thousand of me, I doubt we would find a solution in time.”

Leaving the stunned Sharmia behind, Dersia turned her gaze to me.

“That is why I needed to hear your report. Having paid such a heavy price, you absolutely had to have brought back a way to slow the Burden from the Crimson Circle. But from what I’ve heard, there seems to be no method apart from the World-Sealing Pill.”

“If I take the World-Sealing Pill…”

“It would be effective at first. But the speed at which your Burden progresses is beyond comparison with any ordinary Fallen. Before long, unless you consumed hundreds of World-Sealing Pills every second, you would end up in the same predicament.”

“…I see.”

“Jern. Now is not the time for you to be thinking about the Crimson Circle.”

Dersia stepped closer and gripped my head.

“Do you remember the first words we exchanged?”

“Mm. Yes.”

“Leave the rest to us. Struggle with everything you have. You have always turned the impossible into the possible. We need that kind of miracle again.”

And in a manner unlike her, she gave an answer rooted in emotion and sheer tenacity. She even used the word “miracle”, something she would never normally say.

But I swallowed hard and nodded.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

…Because it meant the only option left was something like that.

***

After the conversation ended, I was given a room in the Imperial Palace.

“I’m sorry. I…need to start putting together countermeasures based on what you’ve told me, so I can’t be of immediate support.”

“That’s fine. In fact, if you had been worrying about me right now, I would have been upset.”

I accepted Sharmia’s apology, thinking,

She was not in a position to let the life of a single child derail the greater cause.

“For now, just hold on to the resolve you showed in front of me.”

“…Yes. I will see it through, no matter what.”

After saying that, she shook her head.

“Though I’m not sure which resolve you’re referring to.”

“…”

It seemed she was embarrassed after all.

Having been assigned a servant on top of everything, I was given a room on the highest floor of the Imperial Palace and granted limitless freedom within it.

“If there is anything you desire, please do not hesitate to ask.”

“…I’d like to be alone.”

“I shall wait outside your door.”

As befitting the Imperial household’s servants, he bowed with grace and left the room.

Left alone in this room that could only be described as enormous, I lay sprawled on the bed, staring at the ceiling and muttering to myself.

“Survive, huh…”

It was what I had always been doing.

But that was precisely why I had fallen into a trap.

I had always taken the best possible action to survive. Gaining what needed to be gained, developing my abilities, and countering the Burden.

Conversely, because I had given my all at every moment, hearing that none of it mattered felt as though someone had poured bleach into my brain, turning the world white.

What was I supposed to do?

How, and in what way, was I supposed to try?

Dersia had said she would go dig through ancient texts to buy even a little time, but honestly, it would be difficult to produce any meaningful result.

“No, alright, first things first.”

Having briefly sunk into negative thoughts, I shook my head, got up, and started from the beginning.

It wasn’t as though I had gained nothing related to the Deep Sea from the Crimson Circle.

The most significant thing, if I had to pick, was the linguistic system of the Deep Sea Creatures.

Cheon-hwa had emphasized again and again how truly important it was to communicate with the beings of the Deep Sea. At that time, her top priority had been reducing my Burden, and all she did in that process was acquire the language of the Deep Sea Creatures.

It wasn’t as if that was a completely wrong direction… but I still didn’t quite understand why she had done it. It felt like knowing the reason would change something.

Surely there was a reason someone as expert as her had been so fixated on the Deep Sea Creatures.

“Come to think of it…”

In the past, the future Sharmia had entrusted her memories to me.

I had put it on the back burner since I needed to rush off to find the young Sharmia, but…

After gaining those memories, the conversations of the Deep Sea Creatures had definitely started coming through much more clearly, as if a floodgate had been opened.

Should I give it a try?

[…find, you all,…–, run away. Hungry, hungry…]

[…searching. I’m going to die….–, I’ll kill myself. ??…I’m going to die.]

“…Mm.”

It was unmistakable. After gaining the memories, the Deep Sea Creatures’ conversations had begun to come through with far more weight.

But the content was so chilling that I didn’t particularly want to listen. Most of it was about dying or killing. Those sorts of words were all that came through, and it was hard to believe these creatures fully understood what they were saying.

It felt like they grasped it on some level, but like sleepwalkers, they were simply vomiting out whatever words were lodged in their heads while they wandered.

And calling it language was generous; in truth, it was closer to foam born from screams and unsettling laughter all mixed together.

Even so, hoping it might be of some use, I listened for a long while, but…

Every last bit of it was nonsense.

Was I wrong? Just as I clicked my tongue and was about to release my Current Sense, it happened.

An anglerfish suddenly came swimming in like mad and uttered something strange.

[Fell, it fell.]

[Fell…?]

The anglerfish vanished in an instant, as though it needed to spread the news to everyone.

And the Deep Sea Creatures that heard it, as if infected, swam after the anglerfish in a frenzy, repeating the same words.

[It fell!]

[It fell!]

[It fell! It fell!]

I froze for a moment.

Because those words were familiar.

Seared into memory as something deeply unsettling. The screams I had heard back when I couldn’t yet understand the Deep Sea Creatures’ words.

…When I had bled into the sea.

They had come charging at me in a frenzy, making that very sound.

“…Mm.”

I spread my Current Sense wide in the direction the Deep Sea Creatures had swum.

Without a doubt, this was movement I had never once witnessed before.

Deep Sea Creatures of different species forming a mass and migrating toward a single point. The sight resembled less the grandeur of nature and more a Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.

Along the way, some were actually crushed by the water pressure and became snacks for the others. The place where these creatures arrived was nearly at the very edge of my Current Sense’s reach.

What in the world was there?

Given this reaction, another Fallen of the Deep Sea? Had I gained a companion?

My deliberation stopped when my Current Sense brushed against something that was neither Deep Sea Creature nor human.

“…What is this…?”

I tilted my head in disbelief at what it actually was.

There was… feed.

[It fell!]

[It fell!]

Feed, literally. Some small, white, spherical morsel was floating up from within the sea, and the Deep Sea Creatures were gorging on it while thrashing about in a frenzy.

Apparently, it was lunchtime. Feeling somewhat deflated, I wondered what kind of feed this was and used the current to snag one and bring it to me.

A white, spherical pellet of feed.

I examined it briefly, then flinched in surprise when it suddenly vibrated, and I flung it away.

“What is this?”

With a crackle, unable to withstand the impact, the feed tore open, and what was inside revealed itself.

Something wriggling emerged from within the shell and began to gradually inflate its body.

[Guh, gak.]

Before long, I was staring at a fully grown shark, and I narrowed my brow in disbelief.

So this was why these Deep Sea Creatures kept multiplying despite never mating.

Was the structure such that the deeper one sank, the more secrets were revealed? Letting out a sigh as I watched the shark, I waited to see if it would say something.

Hoping there might be a secret in whatever words a Deep Sea Creature uttered the moment it was born.

[Gak, guh-guh-gak. Gak…]

But the creature could not form language.

It only let out raw, guttural cries, the screams of a mere animal.

As I watched that pathetic sight, something flashed through my mind.

“…No way.”

If it couldn’t speak the moment it was born.

If it had to learn language from others, the same as any living creature.

“…Is there one?”

Somewhere in this Deep Sea.

A being that created the words these Deep Sea Creatures spoke might exist, separate from them entirely.